Michigan State stunned on Melo Trimble's late three, 63-60

Posted!

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Michigan State forward Miles Bridges shoots over Maryland forward Damonte Dodd at the buzzer Saturday, March 4, 2017 in College Park, Md. The shot was no good, and Maryland won, 63-60. Patrick Semansky, AP

Maryland forward Justin Jackson blocks a shot attempt by Michigan State forward Miles Bridges as teammate Nick Ward watches in the first half Saturday, March 4, 2017 in College Park, Md. Patrick Semansky, AP

The Spartans committed the most costly of their season-low eight turnovers with 6.3 seconds left when Ward fumbled a pass from Cassius Winston out of bounds as the shot clock expired.

That set up Trimble’s heroics. The junior took the inbound pass from underneath the Terrapins’ basket, dribbled up the left sideline and buried a three-pointer over the outstretched hand of MSU’s Tum Tum Nairn as the crowd erupted.

“We knew they were gonna go back to him,” Nairn said. “I just tried to keep him in front of me. He made a good shot.”

Refs reviewed the time of Trimble’s basket and added 1.1 seconds to the clock. Kenny Goins’ long pass from the baseline landed in the hands of a leaping Bridges at the top of the key at the opposite end of the Xfinity Center court. The freshman forward spun and got the shot off as the horn sounded, but it missed lightly to the left and puts MSU (18-13, 10-8) in limbo for next week’s Big Ten Tournament.

The Spartans can still be either the No. 5, 6 or 7 seed in Washington. They must wait until today’s games are completed to know against whom and when they will open the tourney.

Freshman Ward led the Spartans with 22 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, leading a rally down the stretch by scoring nine straight over a 2-minute span to tie it at 60-60.

But MSU went scoreless over the final 3:11 and missed its final four shots — open three-pointers by Bridges and Alvin Ellis, an errant short shot by Ward with 1:05 to play and the last-ditch attempt from Bridges.

Bridges had 18 points and eight rebounds, while Winston finished with eight points and five assists. The Spartans shot just 36.7% from the field, though they outrebounded the bigger Terps by four and protected the ball better than in recent games.

Justin Jackson added 15 and Anthony Cowan 11 for the Terrapins (24-7, 12-6), who locked up the No.3 seed and a double-bye for the Big Ten Tournament.

“It’s just little things that you gotta fix for the most part,” Winston said. “We played hard, we made the right plays, we made good decisions that can win you a game against a top team.”

CLOSE

Tom Izzo and his players liked MSU's effort in a 63-60 loss to Maryland Saturday in College Park, Md. Video by Chris Solari/DFP

Izzo agreed. He felt MSU played well enough to win, producing a better performance in the third game of a three-game week after falling 73-70 late Wednesday at Illinois.

Yet after winning six of their last eight, the Spartans now have two straight losses going into the postseason. A quick exit from the conference tournament would put Izzo’s streak of 19 straight NCAA Tournament appearances back on the bubble after it appeared MSU had a berth wrapped up when it beat Wisconsin on Feb.26.

“You know what? I don’t lose sleep over losing a streak. What I lose sleep over is losing a game that I thought our kids played their hearts out,” Izzo said. “We’re a good enough team to be in that tournament, in my opinion, but I’m prejudiced. Whatever they think, that’s what they do. Ain’t no politicking for that.”

* Sixth (appx. 9 p.m.): MSU gets the No. 6 seed with loss, a Northwestern win and an Iowa win OR with a loss and a Northwestern win and losses by Iowa and Michigan. Would face Wednesday’s No. 11/14 winner.